Thursday Architecture Lesson #2

Azure Storage: Blob, Files, Disks or Azure SQL?

Don't memorize the services.

Understand the workload.

Remember this:

B → Blob Storage
Need object storage for images, documents, backups, logs or large unstructured data.

F → Azure Files
Need shared file storage that multiple applications or servers can access using standard file shares.

D → Managed Disks
Need persistent block storage attached to Azure VMs.

S → Azure SQL
Need relational data with structured schemas, transactions, relationships and SQL capabilities.

🧠 The Architect's Rule:

"Don't choose storage because it is available.

Choose it because the workload needs it."

The right storage architecture isn't the one with the most features.

It's the one that gives the business the right balance of:

For example, storing application documents in Azure SQL just because the application already uses SQL may not always be the best architecture.

Likewise, using Blob Storage for transactional relational data creates a completely different set of challenges.

The question an architect should ask is not:

"Which Azure storage service is the most powerful?"

Instead ask:

"What type of data do I have, and how does the application need to use it?"

Architecture Lesson #2 takeaway:

Start with the data characteristics and access pattern.

Then choose the storage service.

What is the first thing you consider when choosing an Azure storage service?

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